Special
by victimofmywoes
Summary: His world was one where thoughts had no sound while the other had a world without thoughts. But sometimes, all it takes is one look, one wink and one smile to know you're special, to someone.


_**Special**_

_**A/N: **_Just a little something I've been wanting to write. A friend of mine has always commented on how I lack a "human" touch to my writing (I'm sure many of you agree) and I wrote this just to work on that aspect of my writing. Comments and suggestions are always love and I would really like it if someone would point out the tweaks in this piece (Yes, I'm aware there are a lot). I might expand this more or work on it again (once I get my own laptop that is).

**Warnings: **Oh no, not what you think! BUT there is a bit of violence, and ah yes, **Deaf!Naruto, Dumb!Naruto and Autistic!Sasuke. **Please don't kill me!

**Disclaimer: **Naruto and all its characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

How does living in a soundless world feel like? If one was to ask a Uzumaki Naruto, the reply would be a beatific sunny smile with his bright blue eyes closing and a peace sign.

Significant indeed.

Some said he was born under a cursed moon, to a mother who lost her life while giving him birth and a father who gave up his own while coming over to the hospital to save hers. It was ironic really, how much of bad luck the child could have had by just coming into the world. To add to his misery was the fact that he was born deaf and dumb.

Well what good could words do to a boy who couldn't even hear them? True he could feel them against his skin but never be able to voice them out? How would a "b" be different than an "a" for someone who was never going to use them all his life?

But then at the tender age of six came a boy called Nara Shikamaru who dragged the little blond kid with him to the forest with a slate and a piece of chalk in hand and taught him to read and write. Smart as Shikamaru was, he used Naruto's hands and his mouth to tell him how the basic _Hiragana _and _Katakana _were written and spoken (yes he made Naruto _feel _the words on his skin) and then smiled a complete smile of peace and contentment when Naruto got it right in his head despite all that came out from his mouth was air and a semi-spoken syllable in the voice resembling that of a bullfrog. But Naruto was educated and Shikamaru had done his job.

_You don't know what you've got till it's gone._

Surprisingly Naruto knew the power of words. Being born both deaf and dumb he had always felt that anger, that _frustration _in his core every time he wanted to say something, he always felt the resentment stirring when he saw two people engage in a conversation that included smiles and high-fives and hugs. He _wanted _to be a part of them, but all he could do was watch silently and make hand signals to get his point across.

_Adversity makes a man stronger._

Easier said than done. It took him seven years of his life to get comfortable with the world where there was no sound, two years to realize that no matter how much his throat vibrated upon pressure, all that came out was air or some guttural sound that was also lost to him. No one would know the number of nights he cried himself to sleep actually relieved for the fact that no sound would come out even if he screamed his lungs out in the dead of the night. But once the truth about _who _he was had settled in, the fact that _what _he couldn't do had seeped into his heart and brain, he had taken to adjusting to his surroundings. Self-learning had been the key and had it not been for Shikamaru's constant support and understanding, Naruto would've never mastered the subtle art of lip reading.

The lips moved, the throat vibrated and a sound came out. For him every time a mouth moved, deciphering the message had become an obsession and soon enough he could read the difference between "p" and "b" (of course Shikamaru's mouth helped a lot) and it wasn't long before communication was a barrier to him. People spoke, he read their lips and replied with his hands.

It was at fifteen when Naruto cracked his first real smile and Shikamaru ruffled his hair playfully, treating him to a peach-flavored popsicle.

Since then, be it any mischief, any prank, Naruto was always the culprit. He would go around vandalizing private property, stealing eggs, dance without any sense of beat or rhythm wherever he could and just smile all the time.

Maybe it was his way of showing acceptance or just a way to make his presence felt. But in the small town of Konoha there wasn't a soul who didn't know the name of one Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

If someone was to ask how does a thoughtless world feel like? Uchiha Sasuke would just bob his head, curl his hands into the fabric of his shirt and roll it nervously in his hands, his eyes wide and frightened.

Significant indeed.

It's the smile that attracts Sasuke to him or maybe it's the color of his hair. Bright yellow, like flowers, like gold, like _sunshine. _

With Itachi holding his left hand securely in his and his right secured around the end of his own shirt, he was being taken to a new place. "Our new house," Itachi had smiled and explained, ruffling Sasuke's hair affectionately and Sasuke had nodded in delight. He loved the way Itachi ruffled his hair.

He was walking skeptically, afraid of the new faces, scared of being lost in a new place. He missed his origami and his drawings, but Itachi had promised him that they would all be there in his new house and Sasuke had nodded in understanding. The look in Itachi's eyes always calmed him.

He looked down at his shoes and smiled when he saw his reflection in them. Itachi had polished them to a mirror shine so that Sasuke could see his own face in them. He was walking quietly, a little lost, a little scared and most of all very, very conscious of how he looked.

He knew he was different. He couldn't talk, he couldn't think, he couldn't do anything _normal. _He had once heard his parents talk about it at night. _Autistic, _was that the word they had used? Anyway, Father had thought it was a disease and had demanded to send Sasuke to a mental asylum or to a place for the retarded. Sasuke didn't understand all that had transpired but all he knew was that Itachi had screamed (it was the first time Sasuke had heard his brother's loud voice) and Father had taken Itachi's hand and dragged him into his bedroom pulling out something black and shiny from around his waist along the way and closed the door behind him. It wasn't until a loud crack resounded from the room with Itachi's scream that Sasuke had run to his room and hidden under his bed and cried for what seemed like hours in fear till Itachi had come to his room, crouched under the bed ever-smiling as he pulled Sasuke out and took him to dinner.

Once seated next to him, like always, Itachi had fed him the rice and fish with great care making sure that the bites were small so that Sasuke wouldn't drop food on his clothes or leave crumbs around his mouth, then taken him to his bathroom by the hand while Sasuke's hands had twisted with uncertainty around his checkered shirt and pants because he had seen Father looking at him in anger and he was scared. But Itachi hadn't changed a bit as he had tugged down Sasuke's zipper and waited as Sasuke relieved himself. Then he had patiently tugged the zipper back up and helped Sasuke wash his hands and then brushed Sasuke's teeth. He had taken him to the bedroom, stripped him out of his day clothes, and helped him wear his favorite pair of pajamas (the black ones with red and white fans on them) and tucked him into his bed before reading to him till Sasuke was lost in the world of peace and rainbows.

The next morning, Itachi had woken him up earlier than usual and told him that they were going to their new house and helped Sasuke change his clothes and packed his bag and quietly (Itachi had been making shushing motions with his hand the entire time) they had left the house.

Sasuke didn't understand what was wrong, all he knew and all he could understand was that Itachi was the only person in the world whose hand he could hold and never let go. Itachi was the only one who understood, Itachi was the only one who loved him.

They had been walking for as long as Sasuke knew and then out of nowhere, this boy had come on a bicycle in full speed, his hair like the sun and his smile as bright as his hair. It was almost in slow motion as the boy rode past him. But it was time enough for the boy to wink at him, blow him a kiss and race away.

It was all that was required to make Sasuke's breath hitch in his throat and his heart race in a way it had never done before. The reaction was so scary that nothing could have prevented him from huddling behind Itachi's tall frame his face buried in his brother's shoulder fright written all over his body, the smile replaying in his mind.

He knew, he just knew deep down that he'd never forget that smile.

The thought made him want to huddle deeper into Itachi's shirt and let out a small smile of his own.

* * *

It was a normal morning. Well normal for Naruto as he quickly stole the egg from the hen which belonged to the Haruno's but not quick enough for Haruno _oba-san_ to spot him. She ran to him, a broom in her hand and it was all reflex as he got on his orange bicycle and ran for his life. She chased him, he knew. It was some kind of a regular routine for the grey-dusted pink-haired woman to chase him with her broom in her hand till she got tired and stopped or Naruto got away or whichever came first.

For some reason that day, Haruno _oba-san_ followed him further than usual and before he knew it, he was taking a cut and racing in the direction of the river. He couldn't hear the old woman's shouts or the others' as they told him to slow down or to stop. The world was nothing but a haze of colors and the only feeling was that of the wind against his face.

He raced for some fifteen minutes, till he looked back and no pink-haired woman with a broom could be spotted. Then he slowed his riding and looked around till his eyes fell on a boy who was coming from the opposite direction. The boy was _different. _He seemed the same age as Naruto but the way he bobbed his head as he walked, the way the boy beside him held his hand, the way the right hand curled into his shirt and rolled the fabric with uncertainty was different. But more than anything, it was those wide innocent eyes that made Naruto realize that this boy was as different as he himself was. It was the skeptical, uncertain gaze which spoke louder than words. A gaze which knew he was different, a gaze that avoided every other gaze, a look that turned to fear every time someone passed him, fear for being found out, fear of being _laughed at. _

No, the boy wasn't normal, he wasn't mental. Far from that, the boy was _special. _So much so that when they passed, Naruto made sure to tell him that. Not through words because that was something Naruto would never be able to give him, but through gestures because he had learnt long ago that they were his language. So he wore his cheekiest grin, and when the boy caught his eye, he winked at him and blew him a kiss.

He made sure to turn back and only laughed when the boy looked back at him with surprise as he huddled himself closer to his brother's back, but not before Naruto saw the half smile curved on those lips.

Yes, special indeed. _Very special._

* * *

_Hiragana and Katakana _are basic Japanese characters used. Think of them like the ABC in English only they are a little more complicated. Well, less than Kanji. But whatever.

_Oba-san _means an old woman. Not to be mistaken with obaa-san with means grandma.


End file.
